Why Math AND Reading Are Critical for Future Success
By Jim Wambach | March 17, 2025
Building Early Confidence and a Love for Numbers is Essential.
Your support of free math tutoring for children in Oakland’s lowest-income neighborhoods will have a significant impact on their long-term earnings throughout life. You are helping children break free from the cycle of poverty.
A recent study from the Urban Institute underscores the significant impact of early math skills on an individual’s long-term earnings. Reading is a critical academic skill to acquire. However, as reported in an article by The 74, “Math achievement in adolescence is more strongly associated with future earnings than reading achievement or other factors like behavior and social skills.” This underscores why we must consider achieving math fluency and literacy with a similar sense of urgency and priority for our elementary school children.
Will you complete HER Circle of Care?
Through one-on-one reading and math tutoring, and family support, you will nurture an eager child in a circle of care so they may succeed in school.
Will you complete HER Circle of Care?
Through one-on-one reading and math tutoring, and family support, you will nurture an eager child in a circle of care so they may succeed in school.
At Children Rising, we recognize that math and reading are crucial building blocks for lifelong success. Unfortunately, 70% of the children in Oakland’s lowest-income neighborhoods are two or more grade levels behind in their understanding of basic math and numbers. This is particularly true for Black and Latino students, who suffer from systemic educational inequities. Without intervention, these children continue to see themselves as incapable of understanding math. Most will give up on math and are far more likely to struggle in middle school and beyond, substantially limiting their academic and life opportunities.
“I think we’ve taken math identity and agency away from kids, and just squashed the love that you find in 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds when they’re exploring numbers. Kids just really get turned off of mathematics, so I think we’re fighting that right now.” – DeAnn Huinker, professor of math instruction at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Too often, children and adults believe they are “not good at math.” Sadly, in many cases, the children have lost their natural love and curiosity for numbers. Math is a skill that can be learned and developed by EVERYONE with the proper support. That’s why our Path2Math program provides free math tutoring for second and third-graders in Oakland, helping students develop foundational math skills and critical reasoning abilities. Equally important, our tutors build caring relationships that foster confidence and resilience in young learners. And we make math fun for the kids!
Path2Math provides free math tutoring for second and third-graders in Oakland, helping students develop foundational math skills and critical reasoning abilities.
If we want to break the cycle of poverty, we must start by overcoming the educational inequity in our community schools. By providing children with free, one-on-one math intervention, we can help them build a solid foundation for future success in middle school, high school, and beyond. Community volunteers play a powerful role in this effort—anyone can be a fantastic math tutor with the right training and desire to empower a child’s ability to learn and succeed.
